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Tall Barrel Garden!

due to my excessive college footballing in the 90's my knees DO NOT like me playing on the ground and I refuse to buy veggies because you don't know what the hell they are selling nowadays, or whence it came. SO we decided to make a TALL GARDEN!

Step 1: The Materials.....

What you will need; 2 barrels hopefully food grade but you pays your money and ya takes your chances! 8 2X4's approx. because not all of mine were 8' to begin with so I am guessing. Strapping Material ...the flat metal tape that has all thise cool holes already in it. A metric buttload of Drywall Screws (well probably closer to 25 but where is the fun in that?) 4 pavers screw gun/drill tin snips 25-200 drywall screws...WHAT? I don't know you...you might like putting in extraneous screws in all your project...I ain't judging!

Step 2: The Frame

We had some old studs laying around...and yes that is what the wife calls me too...been out to pasture too long I guess...Anywho...we had some 2X4's from various projects....and please remember the GOLDEN RULE

MEASURE TWICE CUT ONCE!

Since I am not a barrel specific technician I'll let you do all the hard work and measure your own...all we are looking to do is make a frame that surrounds the barrels and then put legs on it.

1) Cut the barrels in 1/2 All you have to do is follow the seam really...but if you want to be super precise...go for it! 2) lay Barrels end to end snugly 3) MEASURE 4) MEASURE AGAIN! 5) cut 2X4's (design allows for the ends to be either inside or outside the frame work we chose outside... 6) screw one screw into each corner test fit barrels...here is where I made mistakes...which is why I know you need to follow the GOLDEN RULE! 7) if the barrels fit snugly, welll.... 8) get your fistful of screws and apply them generously to all points you want screwed...we like the corners 9) when you get your frame screwed together, place the barrels right side up in the frame and find a partner or some scrap lumber to keep the frame up high enough for you to drive screws thru the barrel wall into the frame work. We used 3 screws per barrel side. 10) once the barrels are secured to the frame work, turn the WHOLE Enchilada over so you can attach the straps! 11) once you have put 2, yes TWO, straps on the bottom of the barrels you are ready for the legs. 12) as you can see from the pictures, we used 2x4's screwed together to make a handy 4x4! left one longer than the other so we would have small feet and beefy legs!...in reality it was what we had left...feel free to substitute anything you have that will make it the right height for you! 13) set up unit on legs 14) add gravel bed 15) fill with a 70/30 mix of top soil and potting soil 16) plant 17) water REPEAT until food appears... tear down left over plants for winter compost them and add compost BACK to the barrels in the spring for proper nutrition for the coming year.

Paper Contest

Weaving Challenge

Organization Contest

3 Discussions

You could probably incorporate this design into an aquaponic or hydroponic system. All you would need to do is put a drainage system in each barrel, and replace the soil with a growth medium. Then throw the nutrient bucket with pump in, and voila. Oversimplification maybe, but the design would work.